


Magic in the Dark

by SphinxAkashaa



Series: I Am Magic [1]
Category: Magic - Fandom, Original Urban Fantasy, Original Work, Wizards - Fandom
Genre: Adventure, I Am Magic, Multi, Original Characters - Freeform, Original Urban Fantasy Story, Romance, Urban Fantasy, Windwalker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-06-06 00:32:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6729997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SphinxAkashaa/pseuds/SphinxAkashaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Malak (Mal) Grant has his work cut out for him:<br/>High school English/Creative Writing teacher - Check<br/>Devoted Adopted Son and Brother - Check<br/>Best friend to a highly intelligent Detective and to another Highly intelligent Vampire - Check<br/>Have a humongous crush on a co worker and fellow teacher - DOUBLE CHECK<br/>Wizard and Guardian of this realm from the things that go "Bump" - COVERED<br/>Nothing a well trained Wizard can't handle, right? Except that when a string of recurring dreams turns into something a bit more...sinister, it sets Mal on a collision course with the stuff of nightmares...<br/>...and, possibly, his mysterious destiny.<br/>He just has to survive it all...<br/>Easier said than done...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude in "Oh Shit" Major...

_**1\. Prelude in "Oh Shit" major...** _

 

     My mind was an adrenaline-fueled haze as I willed my feet to push forward, despite the ache in my limbs and the burning in my chest that gave me the impression that my lungs were about ready to explode. My bare digits beat a steady tattoo into the soft earth beneath me and I grit my teeth against the pain, knowing that there would be worse, so much worse, if I stopped, even for a second.

     The shadow oozed behind me, menacing in the cold of the darkness that formed it. The darkened forest in its darkened turquoise hue was as new to it as it was to me, but I knew that it didn't matter. I knew it treated the trees and brush it passed and touched with the same disdain and evil that it wished to lay on me, and though part of me wanted to look back I knew just how dangerous that thought was and bit it back as I hurtled myself over a massive tree-root, hoping that it would, at the very least, give me a few feet of ground on the shadow.

     Shit. How do I find myself in these situations?

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

     I had been in that forest, minding my own business, sitting within a bed of flowers and contemplating the mysteries of life, the universe, and, well, everything. I was trying my best to always look on the bright side of life when I felt an unnatural cold wash over me. The few animals that were nearby beat the hastiest retreat I had ever seen, all in the same direction...

     Away from me.

     I could feel the cold getting, well, colder and I stood slowly. My long white robes were stained with the colors of the wildflowers I sat in, and as I brushed the crushed petals off of me I noticed something:

     The flowers that remained were beginning to wilt.

     Given the cold that was only getting colder, my first thought was to attribute it to maybe a cold snap or something.

     Except that cold snaps don't happen in this forest. Ever.

     Wait, how did I know that?

     The cold began to crawl up my back like a large and especially hands-y spider. I turned to confront the source of the chill and...

     From with a bush I saw several tendrils of shadow and darkness snake forward, everything they touched had a different reaction.

     Many plants wilted.

     Others froze solid, covered in a thin blanket of ice.

     Most of them simply died and rotted as if caught in one of those accelerated time-lapse videos:  _Hello, I am here and very much alive, now I am dead and very much a pile of brown-black goo. Good evening._

     The shadow slinked out from the bush, rising and taking shape, coalescing into what appeared to be a robed person, covered, no made _completely_ of shadows. There were hundreds of motes of light caught in its flowing cloak as well as on the bits of what attempted to pass for a body. It raised its...well, I'm assuming it was its head and a large white, toothy, smile appeared on its face, just a little bit too high.

     There are people who talk about staring into the heart of darkness.

     This was nothing like that.

     This was much worse.

     I took a step forward, towards the shadow, and, in turn, it took a step towards me.

     Not creepifying at all. Nope.

     It raised what looked like an arm and pointed a finger at me and I felt my left eyebrow raise of its own accord.

     And then the shadow said my name. My entire name.

     All four words of it.

     All four words of it in exactly the correct tone and cadence.

     Every hair on the back of my neck and hands stood at attention as I felt something suddenly fade from me - not altogether vanish so much as...diminish a bit...quite a bit.

     I took a breath and mustered my courage. "You caught me at a pretty distressing disadvantage." I spoke, trying to keep my tone even and non threatening. "Who and what are you? You are disturbing and, well, destroying the plant life of this forest and I'm afraid that I must implore you to cease."

     The shadow tilted its head at me as if it were digesting my request. Then, it smiled again and, without opening that wide and toothy mouth, it laughed.

     It laughed with the voice of a thousand whispers accompanied by what sounded like steel nails being raked across a chalkboard. It boomed its laughter loud and harsh into my mind and my spine seized and my eyes rolled back into my head.

     And then I saw.

     I saw a small village, during the "ye olde" times, and I saw the shadow moving through it, slaughtering whatever living thing was in sight. I saw the streets of Cornwall and the fields of what would eventually become London drenched in the blood of hundreds, thousands even. The shadow moved through them, laughing with the bloodthirsty joy of slaughter and chaos.

     And then I was on my knees on the floor of the forest, weeping red tinted tears onto my hands and shaking in horror and disgust. My breath came in white hot gasps that puffed thick clouds of mist into the cold night.

"What. Are. You?" I managed to stutter as I rose to my feet, my eyes fixed upon the shadow, my teeth clenched in a rage I only just barely kept contained. My head swam with it, or maybe it was just disorientation caused by the vision that thing's laughter slammed into my mind's eye.

     I saw it take its two long arms and bring its dark hands together, the shadowed fingers were long and clawed and they teepeed together in a way that would make every Bond villain ever conceived run for cover. It gave me the feeling that it was enjoying the sight before it: me weakened and disoriented, me at its mercy. The shadow relaxed its shoulders and spread its hands the way a lawyer might when addressing judge and jury in an attempt to win them over. (I watched a lot of _L.A. Law_ when I was a kid, okay? Sue me)

 **"I"** it began in that same score of androgynous whispers, this time without the nails on the chalkboard thing. **"am nameless, little magus. A prisoner, trapped between worlds, trying desperately to find my way back to the place I was born."** The white, toothy grin on it's face grew larger, deeper, more sinister. I could see now that the teeth, every last one of them, was fanged and glistening. I cringed internally at the sight of them. **"We do SO wish to get home!"** it finished, and I caught the slightest flicker of a tongue, forked and slime coated, moving about in his mouth as if it were pacing.

     My mind flashed back to the images the shadow-thing gave me moments ago. "Yeah." I answered, flatly. "I can imagine so. What's your deal with me? Why do you know my name?"

     The shadow moved, no, flowed around me. it was like watching pitch black sheets being tossed about by the wind, only decidedly deadlier than a simple bed-sheet. It snaked around me, cold claws just barely touching me, but I felt the burning cold just as easily as if its hands had laid upon my shoulder. **"Oh, your name has been written throughout the annals of history and prophesy ever since the end of the first great war and the Divide that followed."** It spoke in a set of whispers that reeked of used car salesman. **"Your power...your knowledge...is the key to my getting back."**

     "What do you know of my power, creature?"

     I could feel it smile in my mind, as if it had been dying for just that question. **"Ah, you see I know that there are rules to the kind of power that you wield, boy."** It spoke, slithering around to face me, the fanged grin getting wider, almost circling the space of it's head. **"For you, my little one, those rules are mere...suggestions. You have POWER, child. You have enough of it to join with me, become as one and allow me to leave the hell I have been chained to."** A great cold wind tore through the area as he said those words, blowing the cloak about and revealing nothing but more shadow and darkness.

     My eyes widened as I digested his words. "You want to, what, live inside of me?"

 **"YES"** it hissed. **"Imagine the power we could wield together. Power enough to make the mountains fall and the universe itself tremble!"** The many small eyes that shone in the darkness blinked at once and that chill went through me again. **"We shall rule the worlds as is our great DESTINY!"**

     I started to back away slowly. "Yeah, er, about that; I don't think I'm up for that idea." I could feel my strength returning little by little as I backed away from him. "I think, personally, that you've been wearing that bed-sheet for entirely too long and, also, your particular brand of fruit loops reminds me of this really clingy girl my buddy used to date and simply won't meld with my cinnamon toast crunchiness. So, while I appreciate your offer to hook up and be genocidal crazy buddies, I'm going to respectfully decline." I started to look behind me, just to get a sense of where I would be going when the time came, which I had a feeling would be soon. "I would like to thank you for your generous yet utterly insane offer, and let you know that it's been truly terrifying to meet you..."

     The shadow thing threw up its hands and I heard a kind of primal scream of whispers that shook me to my very core. **"You refuse me? Mock ME?"** It began to shake itself violently and pull all of its shadow cloak into itself, reshaping it into an extra pair of arms. The rest of it became a massive body resembling that of a bear - a huge six legged bear with no real head to speak of.

     But by the stars did that thing have a shit ton of tentacles.

     I stared into the blackness of that...thing as it roared at me, massive white teeth at least telling me where the mouth of it was. Smoking shadows undulated away from the body and I was certain that, at the slightest whim, they could become solid and deadly as the body now slowly stalking towards me, drooling from its teeth.

 **"You DARE."** it whisper-roared. **"You dare insult and mock ME, you tiny insignificant whelp!"**

     I raised both eyebrows. "Well, that's just rude." I said, mostly to myself as I noticed the six hulking legs tearing into the earth beneath it, killing and darkening all of the plants in their wake. "Shit" I muttered to myself as I watched the shadow's tongue snake from it's mouth and lick its own teeth. I felt bile and sick trying to move out of my stomach and up to my throat. I forced it back down with a concentrated effort of will and felt my mind rushing to formulate a plan of attack and found it lacking, knowing what I was up against.

     I widened my eyes as I looked at a particular spot behind the shadow, feeling my face crinkle in disgust and confusion. "What the hell is that!?" I yelled out to no one at all.

     The Shadow, as I hoped, turned completely around, looking in the direction of the spot where I had focused my own attention. It appeared as if it was going to pounce on whatever it happened to be.

For the next half of a split second, I pondered the idea that something so dark and sinister, with a clearly thought out diabolical plan, would fall for something that was so very, well...grade school.

     Who knew "made you look" still had valuable application in my adult life?

 _Run!_ Shouted the other half of my brain, and I turned tail on the shadow immediately, hoping that I could put as much distance between it and myself as possible before it realized that it had been duped.

     The loud bellowing roar followed by the crash of the brush behind me gave me the distinct notion that that particular ship had sailed.

     So, I ran harder.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

     The moment my feet hit earth after my amazing (not so much) tree root leap, I was off again; winding through brush and trees alike. Branches and leaves stung my face as I ran, and I felt the slow trickle of my own blood as my left cheek got a little too friendly with one of those branches. I could hear the thing behind me, even over the kettle-drum pounding of my own heart.

 **"YOU RUN, BUT IT IS FUTILE! WIND! WALKER!"** The voice again assailed my mind and almost brought me to my knees, but enough that it caused me to stumble just a bit.

 _Don't. Stop. Moving._ Came that voice in my head from earlier

_Don't let it catch you._

_Don't let it catch you._

_SURVIVE!_

      I moved faster, the voice in my head egging me on. I felt some of what was taken slowly ebbing back into me, giving me strength, adding to my determined focus...

     That focus alerted me, suddenly, that I was coming to the end of the path I was on, a path that took me directly to the edge of a cliff. My mind raced as I tried to spin a workable plan of escape. I had to escape it this time. I couldn't let it take me.

     Not again.

     So I did the only thing that made any sense, given the situation.

     I launched myself off of the cliff and began to descend to the forest below. In mid fall, I twisted myself around in time enough to see the shadow-beast-thing stop at the edge and shudder. I smiled and gave the shadow a parting gift.

     I presented it with the one fingered salute...

     ...With both hands.

     Yeah, the shadow thing didn't really appreciate that.

     I saw it shudder, once, and two of its smoky, dark tendrils solidified and shot from its, well, whatever you want to call it, and skewered me through both shoulders. A current of unimaginable pain welled up and set my body ablaze pretty much instantly. For a few seconds I was blinded from the pain and all I could see was white.

     Then I saw things I didn't want to.

     I saw my mother, my adopted mother, bald and lying in a hospital bed. She was weak and the life ebbed out of her as the sickness she suffered ravaged her body, the light in her eyes slowly dimming...

     I saw my first girlfriend, running into a darkened alleyway, where she would disappear, never to be seen again...

     I saw my ex fiancée, all fire and fear, staring at me with the look of someone staring face to face with an abomination, before running out of our apartment and leaving me alone, never to be seen again...

     I saw my city, my hometown, ravaged by the great grandmother of a storm. Watched it then tear itself apart with rage and fear while I was helpless to stop it...

     Last, I saw myself, alone in a dark crystal cave, trapped beyond hope. Lost...

     My vision cleared and I saw the shadow again, but now it had re-taken the shape that of the dark, cloaked figure.

     Mr bed-sheet.

     It stood on the edge of the cliff with its _hands_ outstretched to me, it's index fingers extended into the tendrils that now impaled me by the shoulders. I grit my teeth against the searing pain as I watched a wide fanged grin appear where there hadn't even been a face before, the hundreds of motes of light blinked at me...like an infinite number of eyes. The shadow-cloak-person lifted me up slowly and retracted its finger/tentacles so that I was brought before its face, its putrid breath became my only distraction from the pain in my shoulders.

     Honestly, I would have preferred the pain..

     The shadow tilted its head at me. **_You are an intriguing one, little mageling. Strong willed beyond reasoning. Even now, I can feel you resist me. You have a great potential for power, yet you struggle and suffer needlessly._** I saw its tongue, long and writhing, slide over its fanged teeth and then flick itself in my direction as if to taste me. **_I have tasted your pain, boy. Your suffering is potent, the wine from which your tears are simply the spilled droplets. I could take this pain from you, feed on it so that you feel it no longer..._** Its voice began to resemble something sly, something that craved, even desired…  **and** **_I could bind my gifts with your own and we could be so...wonderful... together...just...accept me into you and release me from this hell._**

     I blinked at the shadow's words, my teeth clenching from the pain in my shoulders. I could feel foulness and something that was altogether wrong, seeping though me. "You keep saying that, you crazy stalker you." I mouthed off at the thing despite my better judgement."There is no way I'm letting you anywhere inside of me!" I said, suddenly realizing what I had said. "No, that came out wrong." I winced in pain as I tried to buck myself backwards from the shadow's face. "What I meant to say was: you can take your offer and shove it up whatever orifice you happen to have at the moment.

 **"You..."** The thing growled at me, unhinging its jaws and expanding them, its fangs bared in my general direction. Its face appearing as some kind of warped, unhinged, snake-monster. **"...you DARE refuse me a second time, BOY?"**

     I narrowed my eyes at the shadow. "Well," I growled at it. "Seeing as how I'd rather die than have to share a body with that ugly face, I'm going with YEAH I REFUSE!" I spat blood in the thing's face and it dribbled towards it's teeth just in time for the forked tongue to lash out and lick it clean. I nearly wretched at the sight as its 'eyes' blinked at me again.

 ** _Yes...I can see that's true, Outsider. Would that I could, your desire would be verily granted. Alas..._** this it said with a disappointed hiss in its voice. **_...I cannot end you here. Know this, boy: One way or another, I will enter your world, I will find you there, and I will make this offer to you again. Know that now that I have found you, I will ALWAYS be able to find you.You would do well to accept me, young one, because I promise you this: dismiss me again, and I will utterly destroy you; body and soul. THAT will be your destiny!_** A tendril of shadow smoke became solid and caressed my face as he spoke.

     Okay, I had had enough of this thing for one evening, it had gone full on Cameron Diaz in _Vanilla Sky_ batshit stalker crazy. I took a long deep breath and stared the crazy Shadow right in its...um...mouth and growled. "Until then, Shadow, you can fuck. Right. OFF!" I brought my knees up to my chest and kicked hard at the Shadow's solid chest area, pushing away from it and doing my best to ignore the searing pain of the tendrils slicing through me a second time as I slid off of them. I fell backwards and saw the thing shift back into the shape of the six-legged beast, its tentacles flailing in the air as it roared in frustration and anger.

     For a moment, everything happened in slow motion. The fall, the leaves scattered by my body as I tumbled through the many branches of the large tree I happened to fall into.

     That lasted until I fell into a pretty large branch that spun me so that I was now falling face first towards the ground. I tried grabbing on to what looked like a sturdy enough branch to hold my weight.

     Or, it would have had the branch not snapped the moment I grabbed it.

     Crap.

     I landed hard on my back, the wind knocked completely out of me and the shock of pain searing through me as I felt the world spin around me. I tried clenching my eyes shut, but that only seemed to make it spin faster. I took a few long, deep breaths and allowed my arms to feel around at whatever I landed on. I could feel dirt, grass, maybe flowers there. I held tight to what I could in hope that the earth would stop moving enough that it would let me attempt to stand. After a moment or two, the world stopped treating me like its own personal spinning top and I opened my eyes and rolled over onto my hands, pushing myself up with what little strength I had left. I was on my hands and knees and keenly felt the throbbing in my head where I hit thee branch that spun me over as well as the stabbing protests of my shoulders where the shadow had impaled me. Blood dripped onto the flowers below me and I pushed myself up so that I sat on my feet.

     I looked myself over, seeing about what I expected; My robes were torn and stained with soil, grass, and my own blood. A gaping hole surrounded by what looked to be clotting blood, I wasn't sure, sat just below each collarbone. I tried rotating my shoulders a bit, finding nothing broken, chipped, maybe, but still in working order. the pain I felt seemed to be fading, or else I was in shock, though it didn't really feel that way. I took another breath.

     "Well, that's not something I'd like to do...ever again." I groaned, still in the process of regulating my breathing. I stood slowly, trying to take in my surroundings.

I was in a clearing...or a glade of some kind that seemed to be obscured by a kind of archway of tall and impossibly old looking trees. Another inspection of them gave me the notion that this was more than just an archway. It was a _dome_ , a gorgeous dome of trees colored in wild greens and purples and blues. It made the place look familiar in a way I couldn't wrap my head around, yet I knew that I'd been here before. When? Why?

     I was in the middle of contemplating that when a breeze blew in and I heard my name called again; not my full name mind you, but it was mine. I turned about, heart pumping, looking for the source.

     Nothing.

     Then I heard it again, heard _her_ again. Calling my name. That voice, or collection of voices, was definitely female. It sounded strange. Distant. It was like it was filtered through something that was playing in reverse, or maybe it was recoded in reverse and was now being heard as it was meant to, only the reverse recording had distorted it.

     It was like that one _Beatles_ album where they recorded a message backwards, so you had to play that particular track of the LP backwards in order to see what they were saying.

     Except she was speaking to me calling for me.

     "Who are you?" I called out into the air

     "There's... not... time...for that...now." She spoke through the wind. "It's...hunting you...again, you...mustn't...stay...here!" She was afraid. For me.

     My eyes widened as the realization hit me. It was still out there. "The Shadow." I spoke absently.

     "Yes." She answered, having heard me speak. Who the hell was this? "You...must leave. Now!"

     "Who the hell are you?" I knew better than to ask why a disembodied voice would be helping me. My experiences taught me not to ask stupid questions in times of crises when someone is offering assistance. Okay, maybe the one I did ask was stupid, but I at least had a right to know who my would-be rescuer was. "Where am I supposed to go?"

     "I'm..." the voices started and paused. She sounded as if she were uncertain. Maybe she couldn't say? "I'm a friend. That's all I can give you." The voices still sounded as if they were being played in reverse, but at least they had begun to sound more together than not.

     I exhaled, unaware that I had been holding my breath until then. "That's all I need to know." I answered, deciding to place my trust in the voice. "Where do I go?"

     I could almost hear the voice exhale as well. "Turn to your left." It sounded relieved. I did as she asked and the voice spoke again across the distance. "Now, walk forward until you come to a pond."

     I obeyed, slightly hesitant, but still trusting in her judgement. "You know," I started as I walked forward, holding the wounds at my shoulders and trying very hard to not panic. "I would feel much better about this if I could, you know, see you."

     "I know." She answered apologetically. "And I'm sorry about this, I really am." My mind registered the accent. Scottish? "This is the way it's got to be, for now." I could hear anguish in her voice, and something else I couldn't place.

     I kept walking forward, suddenly feeling guilty for pressing at her. "I'm sorry." I apologized, reaching the pond. "I've just had a rough time of it tonight. Being impaled through the shoulders tends to make a guy a mite bit cautious." I smirked, trying to let her know that I trusted her.

     "I get it, it's alright." I could hear a slight smile in her voice. "Asking you to trust a disembodied voice after being chased by that...thing is asking a bit much of you." The voice now seemed to be coming from the pond itself. "But I know that you want out of here as much as I want to help you get out of here."

     My curiosity got the better of me and I looked into the pond. "Well...this was...unexpected."

     There was a girl in there.

     A girl with curious green eyes, wearing what appeared to be a kabuki mask.

     She had red hair.

     And it was on fire.

     I mean that in the literal sense. Her hair was actually on fire.

     While underwater.

     She blinked up at me as I looked down at her.

     "Um." I said.

     "Ah. Yes." She seemed to tilt her head, the wreath of flame at the edges of her hair moved along with it. "Hi?"

     "Is that a kabuki mask?'

     She seemed to fidget a little. "Yeah, it is, but that's not important...just...complicated."

     I raised an eyebrow. "How, exactly?"

     I could hear her let out a bit of an exasperated sigh. "It's how I'm able to communicate with you from where I am."

     I knelt closer to the pond. "And where is that, exactly."

     She shook her head, not even disturbing the surface of the pond. "Not important right now. Look, we're running out of time."

     I could already feel the air around me begin to chill. "Shit." I muttered. "Okay. What do I do, then?

     She put her palms together, almost as if in prayer and blinked her emerald eyes at me. "Do you trust me?"

     I could feel myself slipping into panic mode as I felt the air grow colder. "Don't you think...?"

     She said my name in frustration and glared up at me. "Damnit, we don't have time for this." She scolded and I felt my heart begin to pound in my chest again. "Do you trust me or not?"

     I looked around frantically. I didn't know what to do, but I knew that I had trusted her this far. My questions, I supposed, could wait until I was in a safer condition. I looked back at her, still under the surface of the pond, waiting. "Yes."

     She took a very visible breath. "Then you need to jump." She said, a stone cold seriousness in her voice. "Now."

     "Say again?" I questioned. The air got colder, and I could see veins of frost forming around the edge of the pool. I was running out of time.

     "I'm going to lose connection soon and this will end as violently as it always does if you don't do what I say." she looked about frantically and I saw her blink out of existence, just for a second as if I was losing reception from a television broadcast or something.

     "Shit." I said, now able to see the steam of my breath escape from my mouth.

     "There's no time! Jump!" She yelled as she began to flicker. "Jump NOW!"

     Without thinking, I jumped into the pond, head first. I could feel the ice cold waters surrounding me, feel the force of something pulling me deeper in.

     Then, there was nothing...

 

 


	2. In Which We Begin Some Proper Introductions...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which We Begin Some Proper Introductions...

    I gasped for breath as my eyes fluttered open, releasing it in slow, ragged exhalations. I shook my head, allowing my long, dark, pencil thin dreadlocks to hang in front of my face as I looked down at my bed and see it stir just slightly. A small black and white face pushed a small mound of blanket away as it appeared from underneath; its large, pointed ears perked. It tilted its head as it stared up at me and the little Boston Terrier gave a huge doggie yawn that shut its eyes for a moment before regarding me again. Its large black eyes registered a little bemusement, but mostly worry.

    "You had the dream again, didn't you?" he spoke, his north English accent was thick, reminding me of a comedian I had seen live once or twice. "What's that, Mal, twenty-seven straight days?"

    I nodded, silently. The dreams had began about a year ago, starting at an interval of about once or twice a month, then once a week, then every other day, now every day. The dream was always the same. Same forest I swear I'd seen before, same Shadow creature, same proposal, same response to my refusal, the chase, the cliff.

    All of that was there.

    Except I had changed things. This time, rather than turn to stare at my aggressor as he approached, I leapt from the cliff. The former action usually resulted in my being consumed in an overwhelmingly painful and cold dark. For the past twenty-six straight nights I woke screaming or, at least, with a shout.

    This time I kept going. Sure, I ended up impaled for a bit and falling face-first into a clearing, but no escape is perfect, not even in dreaming from the looks of it.

    And then the voice, the girl in the pond with the flaming red hair and the kabuki mask. Who the hell was that? Why did she help me? I tried to shake the fog from my head when it hit something hard and I remembered where I was, remembered where I had been sleeping most nights; ever since the dreams started, really.

    I know, the ceiling is an odd place to find sleep, but when you're me, you don't often have much say in that particular detail of life. Honestly, it's actually more comfortable than it looks.

    At least I wasn't face first...this time.

    "Bloody hell, Mal." My dog said as it shimmied its way completely from under the blanket. "You really need to do something about this." He stretched, muzzle opening in another gaping yawn that reflected the intensity of his morning stretch-out. He shook his face vigorously, completing the wake-up process. 

     The door to my bedroom slowly swung open slowly, a woman's head appeared, poking in from the hallway. Her Raven hair had been  pulled back into a long but high set ponytail. Her pale, angular face moved quickly as her bright Amber eyes scanned the room. When she finally looked up at the ceiling, her full, blood-red lips curved upward into a smirk as her eyes widened slightly. 

        "Twenty-seven days straight, Julia." The Boston spoke as he lept from my bed, small claws clacking along the hardwood floor as he made his way to my bathroom. 

        Julia never took her eyes away from me. "I wasn't going to say anything." She spoke, her alto accented by her British upbringing but tinted with just enough of her original Irish that the accent became a little exotic. "Just taking in the sights, as they say." Her head slipped from the doorway, only to pop back in half a second later. "You're bleeding, by the way." She raised an eyebrow in her 'pretending to be disinterested' way. 

        I threw the blanket that had been wrapped around me to the floor and looked to my chest, finally noticing the wounds sitting just below my collarbones. They slowly dripped dark red blood onto my nice, clean, hardwood floors, splashing some onto the aforementioned blanket.

        Shit. This again. 

        "Again." She repeated my thought. "I could, bloody smell you from my room, Malak." She left the room again and I could hear her voice calling as she moved down the hall "You really should do something about that, you know."

        "He won't listen to me, Jules!" The dog called from the bathroom, just before I heard the flush from the toilet. He padded out, giving me another glance. "Maybe he'll actually listen to you. Stars know he doesn't listen to me at all."

        I rolled my eyes, willing myself to float down towards the floor. "Shut up, Rufus." I dead-panned as my toes touched the floor. My own baritone voice creaked with its first use of the morning. "Or I'll tell Julia that you sleep on her icebox when no one else is home."

        Rufus snapped his head towards me, his eyes wide and worried. "You wouldn't!"

        Took a step forward, covering the puddle of blood with my blanket and moving it about with my foot. I hated using my blanket this way, wiping blood I shouldn't be bleeding off of my floor, but it could be washed out given the proper cleaning regimine. "Of course not." I answered, taking a moment to note the blood running down my chest. "You honestly think I want to see one best friend take a bite out of the other?" I hurried into the bathroom and turned on the shower, watching the hot water cascade from the shower head. 

        "Wait. Who exactly would be biting who in this scenario?" Rufus padded in as I stripped out of my pajama pants and boxers. I threw them in the direction of the door, but they managed to catch the poor dog in the face. "Ugh!" He shouted from under my boxers. "You could stand to not gross me out with your clothes, Boss."

        "Sorry buddy." I laughed as I opened the frosted shower door and stepped through. "It was an accident."

        It really wasn't.

        I closed the door behind me and stood underneath the hot water, watching the blood run down my copper toned body and circle down the drain beneath me. The water stung at my open wounds like a bastard, but I knew it'd do its work soon enough. 

        I was getting tired of these dreams, they were nowhere near as bad as they could be, but anytime I can wake up with the same wounds inflicted on me by a crazed stalker shadow thing, I had to admit that this was still pretty bad.

        What in the hell was that thing, anyway?

        I pulled my hair into a ponytail behind my head as I began to feel the wounds at my shoulder tingle and I leaned against the white tiled wall of my shower an braced myself for what was to come.

        Sure enough, I could feel the muscle and nerves begin to knit themselves back together and I grunted against the pain, grinding my teeth together to keep from yelling out as my chipped bones began to regenerate as well.

        "Ah, and the healing begins." I heard Rufus crack just outside of the shower door.

        I scowled at him from the shower, the pain ebbing as I could feel the cursed essence seep out of me, almost as if it were being rung from the wounds like one would wring a sponge. "Bite me!" I did manage to grunt out as the last bits of muscles knit, scarred, and faded - followed, soon after, by my skin.

        I let out a long sigh as I felt the last of my pain leave and my senses open up, my body rejuvenating as the dark essence had been rejected from my body. Under normal circumstances, my body wouldn't need the running water for this, it would heal on its own - only faster. Magical and cursed wounds were different. I had to cleanse the wound with running water, which for people like me, normally meant that their power/strength/mana/whatever was drained from them and they were left vulnerable.

        That was for the more human variety of...well...practitioners.

        As the shadow vehemently declared, I wasn't...well, human.

        I was an Outsider.

        An Outsider and a Wizard with a talking dog.

        My life is odd. Well, honestly, it's always been kind of odd so there isn't really much wiggle room for it to become any odder.

        I'm going to regret saying that later, I just know it.

        I know, I just kind of blew your mind with the whole "I'm a Wizard" thing. Just hang on to that, because we'll revisit that whole thing a little later. A lot.

        I continued to wash and rinse myself clean as I felt the water begin to cool to a slightly less than comfortable temperature. I leaned against the tiled wall and took a breath, focusing my thoughts on the shower nozzles on the wall in front of me. I felt the tendrils of reality being warped by my will as they wrapped themselves around the nozzles until i could feel the plastic knobs sharply in my mind. With another thought, I turned them both, slowly shutting down the water until the watery bombardment had come to a slow and dripping stop. I released the breath I hadn't realized I had been holding as I felt myself slump a little from the effort.

        I was still a bit weakened from the dreams, I could tell. Just turning off the shower shouldn't have been this difficult for me. Whatever was happening in my dreams, it had become clear that this was a bit more than just a manifestation of my subconscious. I stepped out of the fogged stall and grasped for the towel that hung on the wall next to it, wrapping it around myself as I made my way to the sink.

        I wiped the condensation from the mirror of the medicine cabinet and stared into my own face, my mahogany-toned skin still dripping from the shower. I'm not an unattractive man, I think. Well, I guess I do alright. I didn't have a chiseled jaw or stone hard features of a black soap star or action hero. My features were calmer, softer than your typical "man of action" type, with a light beard filling in at my jaws and chin where it connected with my mousetache. 

        My students all swear that it makes me look more "College professor" than "High-School teacher", but we'll get to that later too.

        As for the rest of me, I was slender in build without being skinny. My musculature was pretty well defined for a man who taught English and Creative Writing to high schoolers, very much a professional dancer's build, so I'm told. Both arms were adorned with arcane runes and symbols etched into my skin in tattoo-like sleeves that started at my wrists, covering the length of my arms and arcing over my shoulders and onto my shoulder-blades. 

        The real conversation starters, however, were my eyes. Everyone noticed my eyes and the shining reflective pools of silver that were my irises and the fact that that was all they were. Irises. No pupils at all. 

        Were it not for the fact that I walked about without a cane of any kind, I'm pretty sure people would think I were blind, or afflicted with some kind of disability to my sight. The truth was that I could see perfectly, though that seemed to freak most people out even more. 

        I undid my hair from its ponytail and allowed my pencil-thin dreadlocks to fall freely as they tickled my shoulders and hung themselves just an inch or two beneath them. I had allowed them to get much longer once...but that proved...well, problematic. 

        I opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out my toothbrush and began the ridiculously mundane task of brushing my teeth with the help of a rather odd tasting baking-soda toothpaste. I don't really know why I feel like you should know that, but there you go. This is my story so you'll deal with it. 

        As I spit and rinsed my mouth with an especially potent mouthwash, I noticed a presence had entered the bathroom with me. I spit the mouthwash into the porcelain sink and closed the medicine cabinet.

        As I suspected, standing in the reflection behind me, still in the purple brocade satin robe that I had gotten her last Christmas was Julia, her Amber eyes narrowed and a smirk curving her deep red lips. "So." She began, her voice honey-dripped and smoother than the satin she wore. "Feeling better, Mal?"

        I rolled my eyes at her reflection and sighed, knowing that she truly was showing concern in her own strangely sarcastic way. "I'm getting there." I poked at the spot above my right pectoral where the wound had previously been. The dull ache that ensued was a slightly unsettling reminder that things were taking a weird turn.

        Well, more weird, anyway.

        "The water helped some, but there's still something very wrong slowing down the healing process." I turned towards her, one hand reaching towards the door. "My body seems to be fighting it, it's just taking a bit longer than it had before."

        "Well, I'm not certain that you should take this as lightly as you have been, Malak." Julia suggested as I opened the bathroom door and stepped back out into my room, noticing the bloody blanket had already been moved away. Rufus, most likely. 

        I walked towards my dresser and opened a drawer. "Who says I've been taking this lightly at all?" I asked. "Any dream that occurs 26 nights in a row..."

        "Twenty-Seven!" I heard Rufus call out from the kitchen.

        I sighed again "Twenty-Seven nights in a row is cause for concern as far as I'm...well, concerned."

        "Especially when you wake up with the same wounds inflicted on you in the dream." Julia stood at the door of the bathroom eying me as I rummaged through my drawer for something half-decent to wear. "Fucking Stigmata, is what that is."

        I turned my head to her "Except that the wounds weren't in the same places as Jesus' when he was crucified, Jules." I shooke my head at her. "No wounds through my hands or feet at all."

        I could hear her trying not to laugh. "Right. Forgot that you were raised Catholic."

        I grabbed a rolled up pair of boxers and a t-shirt and walked behind the screen I had set up in front of my closet weeks ago. I slid the door open and gazed into my closet space, perusing the articles of clothing I had collected over time. I quickly spied a pair of Blue jeans and my tweed blazer and snatched them from where they hung on the rack. "You know what they say about Alzheimer's, old lady." I joked, throwing both articles to hang over the side of the screen. I yanked my towel away from my body and began to dry what was still slightly wet from the shower.

        "You know, just because I can't drain you of your blood doesn't mean that I can't make your life hell, Malak Grant." She teased, a mock glare on her face met me when I looked over at her, leaning against the wall. Her lips were pulled back and I could see her perfect fangs glistening in the dim light of my room.

        Right! Did I mention that Julia was a vampire yet? No? Well, there you go. Moving on now.

        I gave her a smirk and a waggle of my eyebrows "Then what, exactly, have you been doing all this time, Jules?" I quipped, angling my head to the side just as my favorite boots whooshed past me and collided with my closet door. I gave an exuberant "HA!" as I threw my towel over the edge of the screen and reached out for my boxers.  

        Julia clicked her tongue, "My best to keep you out of trouble, Freakazoid!"

        I slid my boxers on and stood tall again. "So, what are you thinking? Harvester for breakfast again?"

        I could hear her soft moan of appreciation behind me as I continued to dress. "That sounds quite nice." she answered wistfully and I heard her footsteps as she padded towards the door. "I'll be dressed in the sitting room in, say, ten minutes?"

        I smiled, threading my arms into the black printed T-shirt I had picked out and then pulling it down over my head. The words "YOU SPEAK ENGLISH IN WHAT?" were worn and faded as I smoothed it out over my chest. "I like that plan. Meet you down there." I turned, looking over the top of the screen to see her wink at me as she sauntered out of the room. I shook my head as I turned back to my task.

        Julia Samantha Francisco had been my best friend since my sophomore year of college, when we met under some pretty unusual and, in hindsight, hilarious circumstances. 

        Read that as: she tried to kill me and drain me of my blood when we met. We got over it.

        So when I relocated to this town and began a new life, guess who volunteered to be my roommate and keep me out of trouble?

        I pulled my jeans on and fastened my belt before extending my hand towards where my boots now lay. I focused on the strands of reality between myself and my foot ware and gave a gentle twist and tug of my fingers.

        My combat boot quickly tumbled themselves over to where I stood, stopping on their soles in front of me.

        I grinned. I didn't know that I would ever get tired of that. Magic, I mean.

        Right, the wizard thing.

        Lesson One:

        The universe is vast and old and amazing. Reality as it is known, is made of tiny radiant threads that can't be seen by normal humans. We in the magical community (yes there is a magical community) have, since time eternal, referred to these ever-present strings and tapestries of reality as _The Weaving_. Magic is the simple manipulation of the Weaving to reach effects that are, usually, dictated by the practicioner. 

        Still with me? Good.

        To anyone with the ability to see the Weaving and the "Weaver" work said Magic, it would appear as if said practicioner is, while in the act of creating or casting a spell, weaving an incredible tapestry that has the ability to create or destroy or alter or banish or do, well, an incredible amount of random and varied tasks.

        Okay, maybe the manipulation isn't as simple as I made it sound, or maybe I had been doing this for so long that it didn't feel that difficult at all. 

        Yeah, we'll go with that.

        I completed the tying of my shoes and grabbed my blazer and walked toward the door of my room, reaching over to the small shelf next to my door and grabbing a pair of old looking oval wire-framed glasses and, without giving it a second thought, slid them onto my face.

_But Mal, you said that you had perfect vision a few paragraphs ago. What's with the glasses?_

        Well, since you asked, you might also remember that I mentioned that there were people who would occasionally get freaked out over my silver, non-pupiled eyes.

        Well, my glasses have the odd habit of distracting from the oddness of my eyes or, at the very least, helping my eyes give the impression that the glasses were nessecary. 

        Make sense?

        Good.

        Moving on.

        "Be back in a bit, Rufus!" I called out.

        I heard the rustle of sheets on my bed and heard his voice just muffled by one of the blankets he had burrowed himself into. "Kay', Boss. I'll keep the ship running while you're out." his voice was already lazy and heavy with the promise of another good sleep. I shook my head and walked out of my room.

        I walked down the hall and past Julia's bedroom. I walked down a set of old wooden stairs at the end of the hall and into a massive room that was covered from wall to wall with over-full bookshelves. 

        Books in every language known (and a few unknown) to man sat and spilled from those shelves and gave the room the distinct and calming scent of an old musty bookstore. Many of these books were your standards reference materials: a shelf of nothing but poetry from across the ages, another shelf dedicated to books that documented the histories and myths of various cultures, and another that contains content that should never be read aloud...Ever!

        We'll come back to that too, rest assured, that shelf is important.

        In the center of that room was large mahogany desk and chair set. In every corner of the room was a nicely sized and very comfortable plush chair with a small side table next to it. Perfect for light reading.

        It was my favorite room here. I pondered the idea of adding some plant life to the room to give it some life before shaking myself out of the random but nice thought and heading down the winding spiral staircase at the other end of the room.

        The next floor was the combination of kitchen and dining area, with large red-brick archways and a long table to dine on; the kind like the ones my parents had always dreamed of having. The Shelving in the kitchen was unfinished and the walls were barer than I liked at the moment, but it was a work in progress. It would all get done in due time.

        Hidden in a small alcove on the west side of the room was a final staircase, more angular and in a quarter landing style, this led to the foyer/sitting room combo. This room was decorated with all of the plants that I had contemplated placing in the library as well as various paintings and statues. A smaller table sat in a far corner of the room, a small shelf of card and board games stood next to it. A series of couches and comfortable plush chairs sat against another wall facing a flat screen television hanging on the one opposite.

        Sitting cross-legged in one of the chairs, a very comfortable black velvet number, was Julia. She had changed into a pair of comfortable looking blue-jeans and a black, tucked-in t-shirt with the words BITE ME in red across the chest. The long and elegant fingers of her left hand held open a jacket-less, black, hardcover book while the right hand's fingers aimlessly twirled at the dark brown curls that hung past her shoulders. Her otherworldly, amber eyes jerked back and forth as she scanned the pages in front of her. As my feet hit carpet, her ruby lips raised in a light smirk as she tapped her knee-high heeled leather boots on the hardwood floor.

         "Well, _that_ took you long enough." She quipped, not taking her eyes from the book. "Any longer and I fear we'd be having brunch instead of breakfast." She lazily turned the page of her book.

         I chuckled under my breath. "Well, _someone_ hasn't had their coffee this morning." 

         "Among other things, might I add." she did, in fact, add.

         "Are you out again?" I raised an eyebrow as I moved toward the shelving of games and plucked my house keys from a small brass bowl that sat next to a deck of "Gentlemen" playing cards.

         "I made the call already, don't worry." she answered not looking up. "I'll have what I need before dinner." She stood, gently placing the book on the small end table next to her before raising her arms above her head in a long stretch. She turned to me, an eyebrow playfully raised. "Well, I'm ready for something I can actually eat. Should we get going?"

         I nodded in reply. "Yeah, I'm good to go." I strode towards the large metal front door I had installed when I had moved into the building. "Should be a nice walk." I unlatched the deadbolt and pulled the door open and looked out into the daylight.

         Julia stepped past me, shrugging on a black motorcycle jacket and slipping a set of dark rectangular sunglasses on as she walked into the overcast Tacoma morning air. "This whole thing hasn't really sunk in with me yet."

         "Hm?" I intoned as I walked outside, closing the door behind us.

         "We live in a clock tower, Mal." She laughed. "A clock tower you own, thanks to your Godmother."

          I took a step back and looked up at our red bricked home. Once upon a time it had been Tacoma's City Hall until the late 50s. Since then there was a slew of plans to renovate or tear down the old building. My Godmother, long before I had ever met her, bought this building herself. I have no clue what her original intent was, but she eventually passed the building on to me. We'd since renovated the place ourselves completely re-doing the ground level with new brick walls and windows. "Yeah." I said. Walking up to the door and placing my hand upon its gilded surface. I took a deep breath and opened myself up to the building, tapping into the energies within me and mingling them with the enchantments I had placed upon the building. I could feel the energy of the enchantments shiver and then shift in what felt like the building was holding it's breath and watched the door as a circle, made from an old dialect of Elvish, appeared on the surface of the door just around my hand with a dull, white light. I felt the doors lock and the building release its 'sigh', the circle fading from sight as quickly as it had appeared. "She did come through for us with this one. It's a far sight better than that small apartment we were in before. Granted, it was next to the school, but, shit, it was tiny." I turned back to Julia and we began the walk up the 7th St incline. 

          Julia slid her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "True, but I will miss the convenience of only having a thirty second walk to work in the mornings."

          I laughed at that. "Yes, I'm sure it's a real pain having to take the two minutes on your Harley to get to school, Jules." I jibed.

          She replied with a leather-clad foot against my shin. "Not all of us can fly 'Mr. leaps tall buildings in a single bound wizard'."

          I winced at the pain of it for a second as we continued walking. "You're just still mad about that crack about Alzheimer's." I said as I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jeans.

    

 

* * *

 

 

         It was another thirty minutes before the pair of us sauntered into the Harvester, the bell on the door ringing out into the diner-slash-restaurant-slash-bar. 

         An dark haired woman looked over at us from the counter. She squinted as she fumbled with the chain a pair of solid framed glasses happened to hang from. Sliding them on, her eyes suddenly widened and a bright smile spread across her features. "Mal!" She exclaimed, snatching her apron from the counter and tying it on against the black dress that was her uniform as she moved toward us, using a hand to quickly grab a couple of menus and stick them under the other arm. As she got closer, I could see the grey of her eyes through the lenses she wore. Her olive skin seemed darker in the dimmed light of the diner.   

         "Good morning, Mrs. Feliciano." I smiled. "You doing alright this morning?" 

          She came by and took me by the arm, looping her own around it and leading me through the floor of tables and chairs. "Oh, you know how it is. Same ole, same ole." She looked over her shoulder a moment. "And how are you today, Julia?"

          My Vampire best friend appeared my side as she slowly slid the sunglasses she wore from her face and allowed a slight smirk to stretch her lips ever so slightly. "Good morning, Ms. Delores." She crooned. "I'm tired, hungry, and exasperated with my best friend's lack of concern about his nightmares." She raised her eyebrows as she gave me a pointed look.

          "Damnit, Julia." I sighed.

          Delores frowned. "Still with the nightmares, Mal?" she half-whispered. "I'd have thought that someone like you would have someone you could talk about that kind of thing with." She brought us to a small booth near the rear of the diner. "I won't pretend to know much of anything about your world and all of its secrets, but shouldn't something like that be an option?"

          I plopped into the booth, Julia following suit in the seat across from me. I propped my elbow on the table and rested my head in that hand, massaging my forehead with my fingers. "Yeah..."

          "...but the one person he can think to ask about it is super important and our young man here can't bring himself to bother them with his issue." Julia interrupted me, still smirking.

          "ANYWAY!" I sat up, hoping to retake the conversation. "How's Carlito these days?"

          Delores smiled warmly, nodding her head in understanding. "Oh, the hospital has him fairly busy these days." she answered, gently placing the menus on the table in front of us. "After that ritual killer incident last year there have been all kinds of regulations and new policies put into place that the Hematology department."

          "Right," I groaned. "The Circle still gathering information from him?" I queried. I could feel my eyes narrowing, expecting...

          "No." Delores answered, a sigh of relief expelled from her almost immediately. "They talked about making him forget everything, but he refused."

          Julia bristled, and, for a moment, I saw the pupils of her eyes dialate just a smudge. "They wanted to mind-wipe him?" She growled, just above a whisper.

          I could feel my own blood going cold. Mind magic was nothing to throw about willy-nilly. To alter the mind of any creature was to change the basic blueprint oft heir personality. It was something that I was strongly against, despite having to learn the magic myself. I vowed never to use it, not without exhausting every other option first. That the Circle planned to use this on someone I knew, brought things a little too close to home. That it was even in my neighborhood wasn't something I was okay with.

         Sorry, I imagine you have questions, starting with "What in the fuck is _The Circle_  and why don't you seem to like them much?"

         Great question.

         The human world has their law enforcement agencies, the Police, the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, Interpol, Etc., right?

         Now imagine the blending of all of those organizations into one, but that monitored and policed those of us in the Outsider (read Magical) community. As far as I know, the Circle weren't always this way. They were, initially, a secret society dedicated to the protection of the Outsider peoples. After Hitler started the Thule society, however, it was decided that more attention be paid and greater diligence be held. So it became a secret law enforcement agency with operatives all over the world and blended into all parts of society. 

        If you can believe it, there are agents that work in human law enforcement as well; undercover agents that keep their HQ informed of the weirdness that the human agencies aren't equipped for.

        They'd be pretty cool if they didn't have a tendency to be so cutthroat...well, some of them.

        They actually tried to recruit me a while back. 

        I didn't like their rules.

        They didn't like that I had refused them.

        "Your friend was very kind to us." Delores continued. "Very firm with his colleagues about not pursuing that with Carlito. What was his name again...?" Her eyes narrowed for a moment as she forced herself to remember. "Agent Curtis!" She exclaimed. "That's it!"

        I couldn't help the smile that raised the corners of my lips. "Angelo's good people." I replied. "I'm glad he was the one assigned to you. I know he had some personal stake in that case."

        "OH! That reminds me!" Delores, squeaked. "I have something for you, Julia. I'll give it to you on your way out." She winked at my best friend, who's eyebrows rose in surprise.

        "Um, Sure. Alright then." She replied with a nod, her hand moved stray hair behind her ear. "Thanks, Delores."

        Delores gave her a warm smile, then. "It's nothing for the woman who saved my husband's life."

        It was then that Julia, in a very rare moment, blushed. "Seriously, Delores. Don't mention it." She gave the human woman a smile that wasn't forced or sarcastic at all...it was...genuine.

        I sat there watching, awaiting the cats and dogs to burst into the room and cause the mass hysteria that Dr. Venkman had warned us all about.

        Delores stood straight, whipping out her notepad and pen. "So!" she proclaimed with a smirk. "This is a diner, and I assume that you are here for breakfast." She winked at me and I think I blushed a little bit too. "What are the two of you having today?"

        Julia straightened as well, flipping open the menu in front of her and scanning it over. Her eyes widened for a moment and she grinned her scarier, more predatory grin. 

        She must have been seriously hungry.

        "I would love the Whole Grain Banana Pecan Pancakes, with sausage, please." She flipped to the back of the menu. "Aaaannnnnnd, a coffee and a glass of tomato juice, please."

        Delores scribbled everything down in what I could only assume was a kind of shorthand. "Got it." She announced, turning to me with expectant eyes.

        Yikes, no pressure. "Um" I glanced at the menu as well, trying my best to find something appetizing. My eyes rested on a selection and my stomach almost did a happy dance. "I think I'd like to do the bacon and eggs, sunny side up with the bacon extra crispy, please."

     Delores patiently scribbled on her pad. "Anything else?"

        I chewed my lip a bit. "An order of hashbrowns and a cup of my usual."

        Delores smiled. "One cup of Tea. Earl Gray. Hot." She said in her best British accent. I couldn't help but laugh out loud at that.

        "I know that order of tea." a familiar voice spoke from behind me. Her alto was slightly smoky and it carried an accent that I never could place, but it was a voice I'd know just about anywhere. "But it was the laugh...that laugh confirmed it. Oh, Hi there, Julia!"

         I gulped as I saw Julia's eyes move from behind me to me and then back again, my heart leaping into my throat. The split second her eyes spent on mine I could see an almost mischievous glint to them. She gave the owner of the voice a delighted wave.

         Fuck, this was not what I needed right now.

         I turned to face the Delores again. Standing beside her was a a woman with almost porcelain skin. Her blonde hair hung loosely past her shoulders and framed her heart-shaped face, a contrast to the black hoodie she wore that was tight enough to cling to her curves very nicely. The gray jeans she wore did much of the same for her lower half and I did my best to not let my eyes linger over her beautiful form for too long. As I brought my eyes back to her face, her full lips curved to a warm, almost knowing, smile that lit up her storm gray eyes.

         Be cool Mal. Just. Be. Cool.

         I did my best not to gulp audibly. "Hi there Meg." I smiled, feeling the nerves turn my skin into gooseflesh. "How's it going?" I noticed Dolores creep away from the corner of my eye.

         Nicely done.

         Meg gestured to a booth a few yards away. In the booth sat a young couple, both of whom waved politely. 

         I waved back, noticing another gentleman sitting across from them. He hadn't waved. He had barely turned to look in this direction, but I could see his eye, boring into me.

         "I'm here with some...friends." she said, giving the table a look. The lone guy, gave her a quick smile before returning his glance to me for the briefest moment. 

         I swore I felt my every sense buzz for a moment before he turned away and went back to his companions.     

         Julia, as usual, knew exactly what to say to ease the tension of the moment. "So, double blind date from the looks of it, yeah?" she shot me a quick look before peering over the booth at the waiting trio.

         I watched as Meg's face took on a light shade of pink around her cheeks. "Um...yeah..." Her brow furrowed a little as her eyes darted to the trio and then back at us 

         "Going that well, eh?" Julia continued, raising an eyebrow as her face became a mix of concern and amusement.

         "Jules, that's not our business." I groaned, tempted to hide my face in my forearms and hide myself from everything. Instead, I took a deep breath and looked into the blushing face of my crush, my stomach turning with the butterflies her presence often induced. I felt the pace of my breathing begin to quicken and my palms begin to sweat. 

         This feeling was maddening, I hadn't felt this way about anyone since...

         That thought was accompanied by memories of a beautiful Cuban woman, her arms wrapped around me as we lay in the sparsely decorated dwelling that was our home. Her lips gently kissing the flesh just beneath my ear as she hummed something from her childhood. 

         A memory then blurred by another one of that very same woman, full of rage and fear, running out of our home.

         Then an earlier memory, a young Romani girl, dark skin and raven hair. Her voice was beautifully pained as she told me that she didn't love me anymore before running away from me.

         I'm beginning to sense a theme here...

         "Mal, are you alright?" 

         I blinked. I was back in that diner, Meg stood in front of me, her head cocked a little to one side. There was a look of concern on her face. "Um..."

         I felt a cold-ish hand on my wrist and I turned to find Julia studying my face intently, as if she had never seen it before. "Here." She handed me a napkin with the other hand and then pointed to her eyes.

         I touched my fingers to my face and suddenly noticed that the area beneath my eyes were damp.

         Shit!

         Well this was going to be easy to explain.

         I rubbed my forehead and breathed out a long sigh. "I apologize, ladies." I noticed my voice was low and sad. Well, why wouldn't it be? "I guess I went away for a moment. Happens every now and then."

         Julia raised an eyebrow. "You gonna be alright?" She never took her hand from my wrist.

         And I knew, then, that she knew exactly where I had gone in my head. I took a deeper breath than I meant to and nodded. "Yeah, Jules. Thanks."

         "It was the usual, wasn't it?" 

         I nodded, knowing full well that she already knew what had happened just then.

         I turned back to Meg, she had just turned to look at her companions, a pained but anxious look on her face. "I...I should..."

         I gave her as warm a smile as I could muster. "It's okay, Meg." I assured her, fighting hard to fight that feeling of disappointment and emptiness that started to burn in my chest. "You have people waiting. I'm sorry about this. It really was great to see you."

         Meg nodded, a look of understanding on her face that seemed both relieved and saddened. "If you need to talk..." She spoke softly as she leaned forward and placed her hand on mine. My skin burned with the warmth of her skin, imprinting the feeling into my mind so that I would never forget it. "I'm always here, Mal." She squeezed my hand, gently. "Always."

         I tried my best not to blush brightly at that, my mind raced as it desperately tried to decode the meaning of that statement. _Here for me? Always? Why does her hand feel so damned good? Does she have to take it away?_  


         As she removed her hand I could hear the voice in my head scream _NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_  


         Instead, I remained calm and nodded. "Thanks Meg. I'll see you Monday."

         Meg smiled at me, gave me a little wave, nodded to Julia, and then walked back over to her group. I watched her for a moment as she sat next to the gentleman she had initially come there to see.

         Not me.

         I groaned loud enough for Julia to hear and lowered my head to the table in front of me.

         "Okay, so that was not the best encounter with the woman you have an insane crush on..."Julia squeezed my wrist. "but it could have gone much worse."

         I sighed, embarrassed, with my head against the surface of that table until Delores finally arrived with our breakfast.


End file.
